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The Kids Lounge. We don’t ever call it the Playroom. The Playroom was the space that made me crazy – a room filled to the brim with toys that were always all over the floor even though no one ever seemed to be playing with them. I felt like I spent every waking moment cleaning it up and still it always looked cluttered. When my youngest went to kindergarten, I quickly set to work erasing the Playroom. I got rid of a ton of stuff (the kids never even noticed!) and relocated the few remaining things to their bedrooms and one designated cabinet for games and art supplies. Then I set about making them a space they could use that wouldn’t make me nuts. I didn’t want to spend a fortune, as I knew full well that it was the Kids Lounge and things were likely to be used and abused and that someone was probably going to be eating yogurt on the sofa when I wasn’t looking.

I’ve already shown the workspace side of the room here. This side is for TV watching, reading, and some occasional hijinks involving the ottoman on wheels.

All the furniture had a life elsewhere before it ended up here – the Crate and Barrel couch and chair were a lucky hand-me-down from my mom. They are about 15 years old but in great shape. (A steam clean once in a while does wonders.) I laughed this week when I opened the Design Within Reach Catalog and saw almost the exact same design:

The leather ottoman on wheels was part of a living room configuration from a previous house and makes a great kid-friendly coffee table – free of corners and hard edges. If Ottoman Gymnastics ever becomes an Olympic sport, my kids are sure to win gold medals.

Across the room is a cabinet that we originally purchased in 2000 as a dining room sideboard to hold our dishes. At the time we lived in an adorable house in Denver that was so small there was actually no room in the kitchen for dishes! It now holds TV components and DVDs. Across the room a matching tall cabinet holds games and art supplies. The TV is a Dell, from the days when Dell actually made TVs.

I decided on graphic black and white accents to pull the couch and ottoman and silver cabinets and pale blue walls together and connect it to all to the black cabinetry in the adjoining dining room.

I looked at tons of rugs and discovered that Overstock.com is a great source for wool rugs at really good prices. This 8×10 rug and a nice pad to go underneath totaled $311 with free shipping! It does a wonderful job of defining the space and making a statement all at the same time.

The pillows are an Etsy find – covers made to order in the fabrics of my choice for $15 each. And washable to boot!

The mirrored wall art has hung in several different rooms over the years – it fits nicely in the space between the windows.

The orange clock we purchased on a whim at CB2 a few years ago but it sat in the box for a long time until we figured out what to do with it. It rotates – one side says GO and the other says IDLE. I have to admit neither side ever displays the correct time. I love it, but I tend to forget it’s a clock.

The side table is actually a box that my Eames Elephant came in. It was so great looking and so sturdy that no one wanted to get rid of it. It became a side table and also a place to stash stuff.